Hey Taylor – It’s back-to-school shopping time, and I’m freaking out about how much it’s going to cost. Are there any tricks, or am I destined for debt? – Andrew
Hey Andrew – I spent a couple of years getting angry about school shopping every August before I remembered to plan ahead and treat it like any recurring expense. You can’t avoid it, so you just need to take a proactive approach so you don’t go to the store and come home with twice as much as you needed to buy.
–1. Make a list. A good place to start is by sitting down with your kids to ask them what they need. This helps you cross a bunch of things they want off the list before you start shopping, and they start begging. Once you have the list and the kids think they’re getting new supplies, send them on a scavenger hunt through the house to see what’s already in stock. Chances are, you won’t need to buy everything that’s on the list. Your kids might get disappointed when they find out that they have to use the same backpack for another year, but it’s much easier to handle that disappointment at home than when you’re busy walking through the aisles.
–2. Set a budget… with a little help. Until you know how much you spend and how much you have, expenses will keep sneaking up on you. That said, budgeting isn’t always easy. You can set a limit of $50 for school supplies and then walk out with half the things you needed, having spent $200. I recently found a cheat code that I’m excited to share with people: make AI do it for you. I’m a big fan of BudgetGPT for financial assistance, and most of the AI tools can create a shopping list for you using real-life products and prices. It takes the guesswork out of the shopping adventure and will probably help you get out of the store in half the time.
–3. Don’t buy everything at once. If you leave your shopping until the very last minute, you’ll invariably spend more. However, if you can plan ahead and buy a few things early, a couple more mid-season, and the rest right before school starts, you can ease the sticker shock and probably find better deals. Best of all, if you plan to stagger your shopping, you really force yourself to plan ahead. If you plan far enough in advance, you might find out the family down the street is giving away the very things you were about to buy.
It’s all about planning with these types of expenses. Save for school shopping throughout the year so you’ve got a little bit of padding, make sure you know what you already own so you don’t double up, and don’t be afraid to let a tool like BudgetGPT crunch the numbers on your behalf. Good luck!
Taylor Kovar, CFP®
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
